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...

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As the 20th Century dawned,[br]the Ku Klux Klan was a fading memory.

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Recollections of the hooded order[br]were tainted by popular literature,

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which portrayed the invisible[br]empire as a heroic force.

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Simply battling to maintain [br]the proper social order.

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This fanciful remembrance would[br]help fuel the Klans revival.

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On Thanksgiving Eve 1915,[br]16 men gathered on top [br]

0:18:24.562,0:18:27.942
of Stone Mountain in Georgia.[br]As night fell,

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a towering cross was ignited [br]and the Ku Klux Klan was reborn.

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The organizer of the spectacle [br]was a preacher turned salesman

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named William Joseph Simmons.

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(David Chalmers)[br]William J. Simmons was a failed

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Methodist Clergyman [br]who had left, left the cloth

0:18:47.511,0:18:51.561
in order to become [br]a fraternal organizer.

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Simmons claimed the idea of [br]starting a new klan

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came to him in a vision.

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The birth of the group was simply[br]a matter of timing.

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The moment arrived with [br]the release of one of

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the greatest cinematic [br]achievements of its time.

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[music]

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Just days following [br]the Stone Mountain cross burning

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the Birth of a Nation was [br]released in the south.

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D.W. Griffiths film was played[br]to sold out theaters.

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The film making was flawless.

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The history was not.

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(Julian Bond)[br]In the Birth of a Nation,[br]the clan is a heroic force.

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It is the defender [br]of white womanhood

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against the ravages [br]of the newly freed slaves,

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these animals, these beasts [br]whose main purpose in life

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was to ravage white women.

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It's a heroic force, [br]it's a noble force.

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(narrator) [br]In the films climatic scene,[br]a group of hooded Klansmen

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ride to the rescue [br]of the film's imperiled heroin

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as she threatened by [br]lust crazed, black men.

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(Julian Bond)[br]Black Americans reacted to [br]Birth of a Nation

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with horror, with protest, [br]with demonstrations.

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It was an assault on Black America[br]at a time when there were

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no depictions of black people [br]as human being.

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This depicted us as beasts

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and depicted these criminals [br]as heroes and saviors.

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(narrator)[br]Despite it's historical [br]inaccuracies,

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the gained legitimacy after[br]President Woodrow Wilson

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screened the epic [br]in the White House.

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"It is like writing history with [br]lightening", the President said,

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"my only regret is that it is [br]all so terribly true."

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(Wyn Craig Wade)[br]The effect of the film [br]was enormous.

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Um, it increased hatred toward[br]blacks, it made people believe

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in the history that [br]was portrayed in it.

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Even ministers endorsed it[br]and it just had a great effect

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on changing peoples [br]attitudes towards blacks and

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convincing them that these people [br]really do need to be controlled.

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(narrator)[br]At his Atlanta home, [br]Simmons mapped out

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the vehicle of control [br]in a manual called, the Kloran.

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The handbook described the Klan's[br]secret rights, rituals, and oaths.

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It defined the meanings [br]of strange names

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created for Klan ceremonies,[br]regence and officers.

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Simmons bestowed upon himself[br]the title of Imperial Wizard,

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Emperor of the invisible empire.

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As Simmons set forth to build [br]his kingdom,

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he found recruits hard to come by.

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But Klan publicist devised a [br]sales pitch based on the slogan

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100% Americanism.

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The new Klan would be a[br]patriotic organization for

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American born, [br]white Protestants only.

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It was no longer enough for [br]the Klan to be antiblack,

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it now added Jews, Catholics, [br]and immigrants to its

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list of enemies.

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The recruitment strategy was [br]a spectacular success.

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Within 15 months the Klan enrolled [br]more than 100 thousand new members.

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The Klan had tapped a fear in[br]millions of Americans.

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(Wyn Craig Wade)[br]In the 20's, a strong portion [br]of American felt invaded.

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They felt invaded by immigrants,[br]Catholics were growing in number,

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and they felt America was [br]no longer the America they knew.

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And so there was strong feeling [br]that they wanted to restore America

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and the Klan [br]promised them that too.

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(narrator) [br]But as the Klan grew, [br]so did its problems.

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Rumors spend about Klan leadership[br]misappropriating funds.

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Rank and file Klansmen took to heart [br]the fiery rhetoric being used

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to increase membership and [br]acts of violence began to occur.

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The Klan was rocked by bad press[br]in 1921 based on information

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supplied by a former Klan recruiter.[br]

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The New York World Newspaper[br]ran a scathing expose,

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the paper detailed Klan atrocities [br]and financial irregularities.

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In response, Congress held [br]hearings into Klan actives.

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The star witness, [br]Imperial Wizard Simmons

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denied all accusations [br]and dazzled the Senators.

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The committee adjourned [br]without taking any action.

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Amazingly, the investigation [br]had the opposite effect

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from which they were intended.

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Simmons claimed the publicity [br]was instrumental in the growth

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of the Klan.

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(voice of Simmons)[br]It wan't until the newpapers [br]began to attack the Klan

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that it really grew.[br]Certain newspapers aided us by

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inducing Congress [br]to investigate us.

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The result was that Congress gave [br]us the best advertising we ever got.

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Congress made us.

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The History Channel returns to[br]Ku Klux Klan, a Secret History.

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[music]

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(narrator) [br]Riding a wave of publicity [br]from the newspaper exposes

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and Congressional hearing,[br]the Klan bursts out of the South

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in an incredible surge of growth.

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Klaverns arose in [br]every state of the union.

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New members willingly paid [br]a $10 initiation fee

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for the privilege of donning [br]the robe and hood.

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Klan recruiters used the Protestant [br]church to their full advantage.

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They persuaded local ministers[br]to join the Klan by offering

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free membership [br]and a position of leadership.

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Klansmen would then make a [br]mysterious call on the congregation.

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(David Chalmers)[br]With prior arrangement [br]by the minister,

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they would appear during [br]the service on Sunday morning,

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make a donation to the church,[br]which the minister

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would receive and bless[br]and then they would withdraw

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and the people would know that[br]the Klan was now in town.

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(narrator)[br]When the Klan wrapped its message [br]

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in the sacred symbols [br]of Christianity

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and the hollowed cloth of [br]the American flag

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it found new members [br]easily induced to join.

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(Morris S. Dees, Jr.)[br]In order to recruit, [br]the Klan has to have a message

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that's palatable and [br]if the Klan message was

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join the Klan and [br]we'll lynch a black

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or we'll burn a building.[br]Very few people would join the Klan

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So the Klan kind of cloaks [br]its goals in,

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good and Christian and right and [br]moral and just and patriotic purposes.

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(narrator)[br]By 1922, 3 million white American[br]had joined the hooded order.

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The stereotype of Klan members[br]as unschooled and savage

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is inaccurate.[br][br]

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Klan membership in the 1920's[br]represented a cross section

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of the white Protestant community.

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At the same time, [br]American women were demanding

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equal rights.[br]Women who supported klan ideals

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demanded entrance into [br]the invisible empire.

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There overtures resulted in the[br]formation of the

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Women of the Ku Klux Klan[br]and other women klan organizations.

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At it heights, 500 thousand women[br]were members of the Ku Klux Klan.

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With millions now counting themselves [br]as members of the hooded order,

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the Ku Klux Klan became [br]the great social organization

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for much of white Protestant [br]America in the 1920's.

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The Klan demonstrated [br]its popularity

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with its own form pageantry.[br]Main street parades,

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the marches were exhibitions [br]of might and spectacle.

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As Klan membership roles grew,[br]so did its political power.

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In the national arena,[br]the Klan helped to elect

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16 United States Senators,[br]5 of who were sworn Klan members.

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One of the five, Hugo Black,[br]recanted his allegiance

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when he later became [br]a Supreme Court Justice.

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From California to New Jersey,[br]voters elected Klan backed candidates

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to a variety of statewide [br]and local offices.

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(Julian Bond)[br]You couldn't run for [br]public office in some places

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unless you had the [br]Klan endorsement and Klan support

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because it had this [br]enormous membership and it enjoyed

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the sympathy of nonmembers,[br]who may not have always

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condoned the most horrific [br]and brutal acts

0:28:04.625,0:28:08.108
but who thought the Klan serviced[br]a role in helping tamp down

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these disatant elements in society.

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[music]

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Klan philosophy [br]was one of exclusion.

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The groups on the out, blacks,[br]Catholics, and Jews,

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were subject to intimidation,[br]economic boycott, and violence.

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While the majority of the members[br]abstained from vigilantism,

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the Klan was responsible for[br]episodes of racial

0:28:44.813,0:28:48.035
and religious terror.[br]Most crimes transpired

0:28:48.035,0:28:54.386
in the South but Klan [br]intimidation was felt nationwide.

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Most violence was [br]directed at Blacks.

0:28:57.500,0:29:04.143
They were subject to beatings,[br]floggings, and at times murder.

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But the Klan mission of the 1920's[br]was broader than

0:29:10.770,0:29:13.389
the intimidation [br]of African Americans.

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Portland, Oregon's exalted [br]Cyclope once observed,

0:29:17.022,0:29:20.872
the only way to cure a Catholic[br]is to kill em.

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While few Klansmen advocated [br]the murder of Catholics,

0:29:23.698,0:29:29.421
the anti-Catholic sentiment [br]was a lure for new members.

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Because of their abundant numbers[br]Catholics bore the brunt of

0:29:32.859,0:29:37.142
Klan religious terrorism.

0:29:37.142,0:29:42.539
But those of the Jewish faith were[br]equally despised by the Klan.

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The Klan was able to operate[br]outside the law

0:29:45.133,0:29:52.937
because in many communities[br]it's members were the law.

0:29:52.937,0:29:57.009
In the last half of 1922, [br]Morehouse Parish, Louisiana [br]

0:29:57.009,0:30:00.087
was run by the Klan.[br]Because the hooded order

0:30:00.087,0:30:03.771
had infiltrated the law enforcement,[br]Klansmen were confident

0:30:03.771,1:28:07.886
they could get away with anything,[br]even murder.

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...